Characterize air-coupled aluminum nitride piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers (pMUTs) for use in range finding and gesture recognition applications. MEMS Aluminum Nitride (AlN) piezoelectric sensor technology has been chosen due to the relatively simple deposition process and compatibility with CMOS technology which enables the potential integration of the sensor and drive electronics on the same chip. Guided by both analytic and finite element models the optimum design parameters are chosen to obtain the desired resonant frequency, bandwidth, and maximum output sound pressure for the transmitter, and maximum sensitivity for the receiver. We are currently exploring several conceptual designs, using different fabrication processes, to improve robustness while maintaining the performance.
Project end date: 09/15/16